Management confrontation at the end of the Gillingham versus Swindon Town match results in dismissal for Peter Taylor

Gills manager Peter Taylor said he was “amazed” to have found himself sent to the stands on Tuesday night.

Taylor and his backroom staff were not happy with the way Swindon celebrated their last minute equaliser but the Gills boss insisted he was merely the peacemaker.

“It was amazing,” he said, following his dismissal by referee Charles Breakspear.

“I would like to find out why because all I did was to say to Mark (Cooper, the Swindon boss) and Hessy (Gills' assistant manager) to calm down. I then went to their assistant to say calm down.

“I then got sent off and there are Mark and Hessy still watching the game. I will look forward to seeing the referee to find out what I did wrong.”

Taylor may have showed restraint but he wasn’t happy.

“Mark over-celebrated and he said something and I was disappointed with that,” said the Gills boss.

“There is a way to behave on the bench. We are all league managers and all involved in an association. We like the way Swindon played, so it wasn’t as if there was anything against them, they played some good football but I think there is a way to behave on the bench,

“All I did was try and calm everything down.

“We all get a bit excited when you score a goal but to me, you still have to show a bit of respect and a bit of calmness. To me, when we score a goal I don’t look at the opposition to rub it in, that is a cert and I got the impression that was a little bit of that and I didn’t think that was right.”

Taylor could be in line for further punishment from the Football Association.

Swindon boss Cooper played down the situation.

He said: “There was no malice in it from our point of view.”

And reacting to the point, Cooper said: “We should have killed the game by half-time and that is not being disrespectful to Gillingham, they have good players and good people at the football club.

“It should have been over at half-time, we come in at 1-1, we concede another ridiculous goal and we have to scrap to the very end to get an equaliser.”